Don't count the GOP out

It's time for somebody to play the role of contrarian on the Republican presidential loss, so I'll volunteer. We've had a lot of soul-searching - mostly by conservative pundits - suggesting the GOP must either face reality about changing voter demographics or prepare for its demise as a force in American politics.

I've been arguing from the middle for at least three decades that Republicans need to reach out to people who don't look like most of them, so that deduction doesn't strike me exactly as a eureka moment. Nor do I think it explains what happened on Nov. 6.

I can't speak for the country, but after being exposed to literally thousands of political ads and several high-energy campaign rallies, I can say that Republican Mitt Romney lost the pivotal state of Ohio because his campaign underestimated both the power of negative advertising aimed at him and the Democrats' get-out-the-vote machine.

But that's ancient history. Looking ahead is more interesting, especially if you study a national map of political officeholders and have an appetite for numbers. Not only are Republicans still strongly competitive from the courthouse to Congress, in some areas they also are dominant. For example, they control:

» 30 of 50 governorships, including those in seven of the 10 most populous states.

» 27 of 49 state House of Representatives (Nebraska has a unicameral, non-partisan legislature).

» 28 of 49 state senates;

» A 40-seat majority in the U.S. House; 45 of the 100 seats in the U.S. Senate, enough to sustain a filibuster.

Midterm bonanza

Many of these numbers are the legacy of the 2010 midterm elections, when Republicans made historic gains, picking up 63 U.S. House seats, six governorships and 12 state legislatures (22 state house or senate chambers switched from Democratic to Republican - more than 700 seats).

It's also worth noting, because so much has been made about the Hispanic vote this year, that six of the 10 states with the highest Hispanic populations have GOP governors.

In any event, while this doesn't sound like a political party on its last legs, it's no time for Republicans to get complacent. Because if they don't hold their ground in 2014, they will be depicted once again as a party in decline.

Beware of ObamaCare

My best guess is that the continuing implementation of ObamaCare will be a large issue in the midterm elections, just as the initial passage of the legislation affected Democrats negatively in 2010. I don't know whether it'll be positive or negative, moving voters left or right, but if it's the latter the Republicans will be able to run an "I told you so" campaign.

Republicans have a pretty good looking stable of potential candidates that includes minorities - they just have to persuade voters not to take them as tokens.

But the presidential race isn't the only contest that matters in politics, as the numbers above illustrate. And while there's no chance that the Republican Party will become a model of diversity, inclusion and tolerance anytime soon, there's also no reason to start hanging crepe.

The GOP will be around a lot longer than most of us.

Don Campbell, a former Washington journalist, lives in Oakwood, Ohio.

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Don't count the GOP out

It's time for somebody to play the role of contrarian on the Republican presidential loss, so I'll volunteer. We've had a lot of soul-searching - mostly by conservative pundits - suggesting the GOP